Holographic Rings
by pinkconchshell
Summary: Raven happens upon Beast Boy one early morning to see him staring into the mirror - while wearing Cyborg's hologrpahic rings. It was based on a picture I drew, actually, which made it kinda fun to bring to life here. Not exactly BB/Rae, but totally BB/Rae


**Holographic Rings**

So originally this was based on a sketch of mine, but once I colored it I decided that it sucked. However, it did inspire me just a teensy bit for a oneshot, so here goes nothing.

E-may ont-day own een-tay itans-tay.

Raven lay quietly on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. The exasperating result of a restless mind.

No. It was not _her_ mind that was restless. She was completely blameless in this situation, yet why she had to suffer for another teammate's inner turmoil was completely over her head. She sighed, wondering why empathy had to be included in her abundance of powers.

_Stop that,_she chastised herself quickly. She should not be thinking that way about her teammate – her _friend_. Friends did not harbor grudges towards each other, even if they kept each other up until two in the morning, thinking suicidal thoughts to themselves for hours on end. Well, maybe not suicidal (At least, not for one of the teammates anyways – Raven had had quite enough). Beast Boy seemed…agitated. Anguished.

She tasted the air more carefully, folding away the shield she had tried to keep up around her head and breathing in every little emotion coming her way. Beast Boy's were like a scent – only in sentimental form. Yes, anguish was one of them, but they were all so rolled together like tumbleweeds it was hard to discern each separate one. Bitterness…grief…hurt…guilt…and he was missing someone…

Raven pursed her lips as she realized that perhaps he'd had another dream about Terra. Impatiently, she rolled over and pulled the covers up over her head, trying her best to make what she knew to be an unreasonable irritation vacate her mind. She knew for a fact that his nightmares had stopped for quite a while now; why would he dream about her tonight of all nights? She tried to ignore his tangled emotions, but they rolled over her like strong waves, over and over again until finally she could not stand it one more second. She was going to sleep tonight, so help her God.

Muttering, Raven kicked the covers viciously off her pale, exposed legs and stood up, glaring around for her cloak. Of course, it was nowhere to be seen, so she summoned some sweatpants (of questionable hygiene) from her closet and pulled them on as she walked lightly over to her door. It opened to reveal her glowering around the corner, to where Beast Boy's room was situated, and it took much of her to keep from stomping to his room and waking the others.

As soon as she turned the corner, the first thing she saw was that his light was on and his door was open. Raven stopped for a minute, puzzled. The Titans had many things in common, including the inherent mannerism to keep certain things…about themselves…private. From the moment they had formed the team, Raven knew that Beast Boy held things in his mind, forbidden to anyone, and whether or not he choose to disclose those secrets to his friends was up to him; she was the only one who knew, and she respected him.

But still, sometimes she wished she didn't know he had darker pain than the rest of them. It kept her from killing him at times like this.

Raven crept quietly up to the door, mentally steeling herself to refrain from shouting at him to go to sleep already. However, the moment her face became illuminated by the light in the room, her heart gave a sudden lurch and her mouth dropped open in surprise, but she teleported herself to around the corner once again before he had time to turn around and glance out the door.

_That, _she thought to herself in the darkened hallway, heart thumping traitorously. _That was _not _Beast Boy. _Beast Boy was, well, green. And he had green hair, and pointy ears, and fangs, and a stupid grin plastered on his face at all times. Yet as she tasted the air surrounding his room, all she could sense were Beast Boy's emotions. True, they were restless and clumped together, rolling around in the air without any particular direction, but they were his. Which did not make any sense at all.

Because, as Raven dared another peek into his room, she saw not Beast Boy, but just a regular boy, standing there staring at himself in the mirror. Just staring, but she summoned her dark energy into her clenched fists just in case she needed it. The boy – Beast Boy, she realized – really did resemble himself, if she carefully examined his face. Yes, those were his eyes, only a soft ocean blue. His hair was dirty blonde, yet tousled just like his usual hair. And that was his nose, and his chin, and the way he carried himself was exactly the same. The only difference was his skin; his soft peach, tanned skin, reaching all the way to his soft peach, tanned hands and his soft peach, rounded ears.

Her thumping heart was settling down now, and due to Beast Boy's abrupt change in appearance, it came as a surprise when he turned around and grinned at the door. Yet it was not the same grin which usually adorned his face – this one was slightly bitter.

"I know you're there, Raven," Beast Boy said softly. The treacherous heart sped up again at the sound of his voice. "You can come in, you know."

She hesitated for a moment, and then slowly stepped into the light again, trying her best and somehow not succeeding in keeping her face void of all emotion. The two stared at each other for several seconds, and then Beast Boy, with a sigh, turned back to the mirror.

"…I couldn't sleep," Raven said hoarsely. "I could feel your emotions making a mess of things, rolling around everywhere. I – I just came to check on you."

He was silent for a long time, and for several minutes all that could be heard was their synchronized breathing, he staring at the mirror, she staring at him.

"These are Cyborg's," he said finally, holding up his hands and showing her two thick black rings slipped onto each of his ring fingers. "The holographic ones he used to infiltrate Brother Blood's school? I found them in a locked box under his bed the other day." He laughed nervously. "I just thought it'd be nice to see what I really looked like as a human."

"Beast Boy," Raven whispered.

"Kinda stupid of me, huh?" he said with a sigh, leaving the mirror and sinking down onto the bottom bunk. "But I had been wondering for a long time."

Raven said nothing. All she did was take a few careful steps until she was standing right in front of him, looking down at his strange golden hair.

"What's the matter?" she asked finally, after a long silence. "You can tell me, you know."

He sounded like he was choosing his words carefully. "Raven," he said. "I know you know that I've kept some things to myself ever since we all teamed up, but I think it's time I told you. Do you have any idea how my parents died?"

She shook her head.

"There was – an accident," he muttered. "They were on a boat – it was so bright out – and they fell over. I was on shore…I could have done something. I tried to help them…I didn't even know how to swim…it's all my fault – they're dead because of me." He gave a moan of despair and buried his face in his hands. As Raven gently laid a hand on his shoulder, she realized he was shaking.

They said nothing for a while, remaining in that position for what seemed like an eternity to her. All that radiated from him was pain – it seeped through her arm from her touch and coursed through her whole body, smothering her heart. Raven winced when at last Beast Boy lifted his face, and although it was slightly more composed than before, she could see tear tracks etched along his strange white cheeks.

"I'm sorry," they said simultaneously, and shared a smile.

"It's not your fault," Raven said softly, sitting down beside him. "And I'm sure that they'd be so proud to see whom you've become."

"They would have liked you," he said, smiling. "That was six years ago to the day. And I still don't know how to swim."

Yet another silence held, until Raven noticed the sun creeping up and illuminating the window with its soft pink light. Suddenly, her eyes felt heavy and the room began to sway, and she realized that not only had she been up all night, but that Robin had scheduled an intense training session "early", and she was probably going to drop dead halfway through. So, she stood up, stifling a yawn, and held out her hand to Beast Boy. He stared at it blankly.

"Am I supposed to shake it?" he asked.

"Give me the rings," she ordered. His face fell as he stared at himself in the mirror one last time, before catching sight of Raven's look and removing the rings slowly. Like a movie screen fading to black, so did his skin, and she was ever so relieved to see him back to normal. His light green skin was such a contrast to the pale flesh which had covered him just before.

"There now," she said gently. "Beast Boy's back."

He smiled brightly up at her and stood up, following her out the door to the living room, where he sat and watched her meditate until everyone else had woken up.

Meh. I don't know about this one. It didn't turn out so good. I wanted to do a fic where Batman and Babs come into the scene, but that's for later.

Oh, in case anybody cares, I'm thinking about translating all my stories into _español_ for practice. Many people are surprised when I say it's my first language.


End file.
